Document retrieval assisting method, system and service using closely displayed areas for titles and topics

ABSTRACT

A document retrieval assistance method has a user interface with an interactive guidance function. In response to a search query, search results including a title list of retrieved documents is displayed alongside a separate display of topic words extracted from the retrieved documents which reflect the search results. In particular, a topic-word graph is displayed alongside a list of titles of the retrieved documents and the interface enables browsing of the documents using the topic words. Further, the interface permits emphasized display of the list of titles of the documents through direct selection of the titles displayed in the list or through selection of the topic words. Further, an associative search can be executed using a selected document to refine the original search results and develop updated displays of the search results and topic words contained in the documents.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELEVANT APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 08/888,017 filed Jul. 3, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,460 andthe disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a document retrieval assisting methodhaving a user interface with an interactive guidance function realizedtherein and a document retrieval service or document retrieval assistingservice utilizing the same.

For document retrieval systems, a variety of assisting functions havebeen designed and developed so that users might readily reach a desireddocument assembly as soon as possible. Feedback and guidance are primaryones among them. Feedback is such a mechanism that, when a user drawshis determination of YES/NO concerning several items from searchresults, search results reflecting the determination can then be gained,as is described for example in G. Salton, J. M. McGill (1983),Introduction to Modern Information Retrieval, McGraw-Hill, Chapter 6.Further, guidance is a function to provide information relevant to aretrieval operation at the individual processes of the retrievaloperation, namely information believed to possibly work as referencewhen a user intends to modify or improve search queries.

As to the guidance function, conventionally, a method has generally beenexecuted, comprising proposing information relevant to input searchqueries. For example, a method is illustrated, comprising storing adatabase representing relations between words, such as thesaurus, andretrieving from the data base, a set of words relevant to the inputkeywords. Thesaurus is a tree-structure database primarily showing the“is-a” relations between words, and furthermore, a method is alsosuggested, comprising automatically generating a data of relevant wordsusing co-occurrence statistics (see for example Japanese PatentLaid-open No. Hei 8-161343 entitled “Related Word Dictionary PreparingDevice”; or see B. R. Schatz et al. (1966), Interactive term suggestionfor users of digital libraries: Using subject thesauri and co-occurrencelists for information retrieval, Proc. ACM DL'96, pp.126-133). R. H.Fowler and D. W. Dearholt also propose, in “Information Retrieval UsingPathfinder Networks”, in R. W. Schvaneveldt ed., Pathfinder AssociativeNetworks, Ablex, Chapter 12 (1990), a method comprising displaying asearch word and words relevant to the word in a network structure, onthe basis of the co-occurrence statistic data between words.

However, the method providing information relevant to a query isdisadvantageous in that the method is hardly applicable to a case with aplurality of search words or a case with negation used; and the methodis also problematic in that the method is hardly applicable to documentretrieval with no use of any key word (associative search). So as toovercome these problems, a method is proposed, comprising automaticallyextracting relevant information from search results and providing theinformation to a user. For example, Scatter/Gather method [D. Cutting,et al. (1992), Scatter/Gather: A Cluster-based Approach to BrowsingLarge Document Collections. Proc. ACM SIGIR'92, p. 318-329] comprisesautomatically classifying a retrieved document group (clustering) anddisplaying the topic words per each class. U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,017submitted by the present inventors proposes a method for preparing anddisplaying a topic word graph, comprising extracting topic words fromsearch results and extracting the co-occurrence relation between thetopic words.

However, these conventional methods are disadvantageous in that theinteraction between the display area of title list as primaryinformation of search results and guidance information is soinsufficient that users cannot sufficiently utilize the guidanceinformation.

From the standpoint of search style, complementary two search types,namely key word search and associative search, are required, butdisadvantageously, no user interface exists, which is capable ofselecting and using one of them, depending on the search queries, toexecute guidance within the same frame.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

So as to overcome the aforementioned problems of the prior art, it is anobject of the present invention to attain that users can catch bothindividual information such as title list as search results and the overview of the search results such as a topic-word graph and try to improvethe search queries while analyzing the relation between the individualinformation and the overview or to carry out retrieval from anotherstandpoint; and it is the other object of the present invention toattain that a user can readily retrieve a set of documents highlyrelated to same an interesting documents for the user or to somedocuments owned by the user or to some interesting documents or a partthereof the user has encountered during the course of retrievaloperation.

So that users might make attempts for improving search queries whilecatching the whole set of search results or for performing retrievalfrom another standpoint, the overview information in the form of atopic-word graph along with the list of titles as primary information ofsearch results, is mapped at readily comparable positions on the sameimage, thereby enabling the utilization of the displayed topic words assearch words through click operation with mouse, or selecting some ofthe displayed topic words through simple mouse operation to make anemphasized display of titles including them or concentrating theemphasized titles toward the top of the lists, which promotes readyidentification of the relation between the topic words and documentsincluding them, or alternatively selecting some of the titles to make anemphasized display of topic words contained in these documents, so thata retrieval assisting interface for propagating more deepened search canbe achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting one example of the systemcomposition of the present document retrieval assisting service;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram representing the detail of one example of theuser side retrieval assisting program loaded on the work area of a userside computer;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram representing a composition example of theretrieval assisting interface displayed on the display area;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram representing one example of the detail of thedata storage area for imaging the retrieval interface on the displaymeans;

FIG. 5 is a PAD view representing the process flow of the user sideretrieval assisting routine;

FIG. 6 is a view representing a display example of search results andtopic words on the retrieval assisting interface;

FIG. 7 is a view representing a data composition example for imaging thesearch results display area;

FIG. 8 is a view representing a data composition example for imagingtopic word display area;

FIG. 9 is a view representing a composition example of query to bereceived by the information provider side retrieval assisting program;

FIG. 10 is a view representing a composition example of the informationprovider side retrieval assisting program;

FIG. 11 is a view representing a composition example of text data baseas a search subject;

FIG. 12 is a PAD view representing the process flow of the informationprovider side retrieval assisting routine;

FIGS. 13A and 13B are views representing examples of search resultrelevant data sent to a user side;

FIG. 14 is a view representing an example of topic word relevant data;

FIG. 15 is a view representing an example of the data relevant to linksbetween topic words for imaging a topic word graph;

FIG. 16 is a view representing an example of topic word/documentcorresponding table data;

FIG. 17 is a view representing an example of document/topic wordcorresponding table data;

FIG. 18 is a view representing an example as to how to set parametersfor preparing a data for imaging search results;

FIGS. 19A and 19B are PAD views representing a part of the process flowsof the search results imaging data preparation routine;

FIG. 19C is a PAD view representing the remaining part of the processflow of the search results imaging data preparation routine;

FIG. 20 is a view representing an example as to how to set parametersfor preparing a data for mapping a topic word graph;

FIGS. 21A and 21B are PAD views representing a part of the process flowsof the topic word graph mapping data preparation routine;

FIG. 21C is a PAD view representing the remaining part of the processflow of the topic word graph mapping data preparation routine;

FIG. 22 is a PAD view representing the process of user side retrievalassisting routine in response to keyboard input;

FIGS. 23A and 23B are PAD views representing a part of the processes ofthe user side retrieval assisting routine when mouse is pushed;

FIG. 23C is a PAD view representing the remaining part of the process ofthe user side retrieval assisting routine when mouse is pushed;

FIG. 24 is a PAD view representing the process of the user sideretrieval assisting routine when mouse is moved under pushing;

FIGS. 25A and 25B are PAD views representing a part of the processes ofthe user side retrieval assisting routine when mouse is released;

FIG. 25C is a PAD view representing the remaining part of the process ofuser side retrieval assisting routine when mouse is released;

FIG. 26A is a PAD view representing a part of the process of the userside retrieval assisting routine when the button of retrieval assistinginterface is clicked;

FIG. 26B is a PAD view representing the remaining part of the process ofthe user side assisting routine when the button of retrieval assistinginterface is clicked;

FIG. 27 is a view representing an example of the displayed image whendocuments as search results are examined one by one;

FIGS. 28A through 28C are views representing examples as to how theinterface image changes when titles are marked by selecting topic words;

FIGS. 29A and 29B are views representing examples as to how theinterface image changes when topic words are selected for graphicexpression of the topic words;

FIGS. 30A and 30B are views representing examples as to how theinterface image changes when topic words are moved for graphicexpression of the topic words;

FIGS. 31A through 31C are views representing examples as to how theinterface image changes during the operation for utilizing displayedtopic words as search words;

FIGS. 32A through 32D are views representing examples as to how theinterface image changes when the function to propagate the selection ingraphic expression of topic words is utilized;

FIGS. 33A through 33C are views representing examples as to how theinterface image changes when topic words are marked through selectionamong retrieved documents;

FIG. 34 is a view representing an example of the interface image whenassociative search is executed;

FIG. 35 is a view representing an example of the interface image whensearch results are pruned;

FIG. 36 is a view representing an example of the interface image when atext input means is opened for executing associative search via textinput;

FIG. 37 is an actual view of the interface image adopted for an actualsearch example;

FIG. 38 is a view of the interface image at a state wherein “documentretrieval interface ()” is inputted as it is from key word input;

FIG. 39 is a view representing search results after the input characterrow is decomposed as key words as the consequence of a key word searchbutton pushed;

FIG. 40 is a view representing the state of topic words to be selectedon the basis of the results of search executed;

FIG. 41 is a view representing the results of marking of the titles ofdocuments corresponding to selected topic words;

FIG. 42 is a view representing the results of sorting of document listsafter marking;

FIG. 43 is a view representing the displayed state of the sorteddocument lists and the topic words after the nodes are put at unselectstate;

FIG. 44 is a view representing that broadly marked documents are put atselected state by users;

FIG. 45 is a view representing the state of more broadly displayedframes enclosing topic words appearing in the documents at the selectedstate;

FIG. 46 is a view displaying the selection of the marked topic words;

FIG. 47 is a view representing that the execution of retrieval isdesignated by means of the marked topic words as selection keys;

FIG. 48 is a view representing search results corresponding to the newkey words;

FIG. 49 is a view representing that only the upper documents areselected with mouse clicking from the search results;

FIG. 50 is a view representing the key word search results by pushing aprune button when only the selected documents are search subjects;

FIG. 51 is a view representing that two document titles are selectedwith mouse clicking, so as to commit associative search with specificdocuments among the selected documents;

FIG. 52 is a view representing the results of associative search bypushing search key “Association”;

FIG. 53 is a view representing that topic word “pen stroke ()” isselected on the first image of an exemplified change of the interfaceimage when the function of propagating the selection of topic words isutilized by using topic word “pen stroke ()” as a key, with attentionfocused on the graphic expression of topic words recovered afterassociative search;

FIG. 54 is a view representing that topic word-key word which can befollowed by at most one path from the selected topic word-pen stroke isput at selected state, by pushing propagate (right) button “Propagate”,on the next display of the one example of the interface image change;and

FIG. 55 is a view representing that the topic words “ (document)”, “(whole document)” and - - - , which can be followed by at most one pathfrom the topic word-key word, are put at selection state, bycontinuously pushing the propagate (right) button “Propagate”, on thesecond next image of the one example of the interface image change.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Modes for carrying out the document retrieval assisting method anddocument retrieval assisting service by utilizing the method, inaccordance with the present invention, will now be described below.

FIG. 1 is one example of the system composition of the documentretrieval assisting service. The document retrieval assisting service iscomposed of information holding/processing means 1 (general purposecomputer, work station, personal computer, etc.) for informationprovider, communication network 2 (Internet, Intranet, or a combinationthereof) and information holding/processing means 3 (work station,terminals, computers such as personal computer) for users. Plural usersand information providers may be satisfactory, but for simpledescription, the diagrams herein are expressed by assuming a single userand a single information provider.

The information holding/processing means 1 for information provider(referred to as “computer” hereinafter for simple description) comprisesinput means 11, display means 12, CPU 13, work area 14, informationstorage means 15 and the like, and in response to a query from a user,the means 1 primarily functions for carrying out the retrieval of thecorresponding documents in a text data base as a supply subject, totransmit the results to the user, and the means also functions forgenerating and processing useful information with relevance to the queryand the search results, if necessary, to send the information to theuser. The work area 14 comprises memory media such as semiconductormemory capable of read and write at a high speed, wherein retrievalassisting program 143 for the execution of document retrieval assistingservice functions, together with operating system 141 and communicationprocess 142. The information storage means 15 comprises a combination ofmemory media capable of storing an enormous volume of information andsuitable for high-speed read, such as magnetic disk, optical disk, andCD ROM, and the means stores user side retrieval assisting drivingprogram 15X1 operable as a retrieval assisting means on a user sidecomputer, user side hypertext 15F1 for retrieval assisting start, whichworks for delivering the program and carrying out the program, andretrieval data 15D such as search subjects. The retrieval data 15Dcomprises dictionaries 15D0 and data 15D1, 15D2, - - - , relevant to theindividual text data base.

The user side information holding/processing means (referred to as“computer” or “terminal” hereinbelow for simple description) is composedof input means 31, display means 32, CPU 33, work area 34, informationstorage means 35 and printing means 36, and primarily functions fortransmitting the query from a user to an information provider side andfor proposing, in a user friendly manner, the search results andattached information, sent back. from an information provider side. Theinput means 31 comprises keyboard 31, mouse 32, and pen input means 33,wherein the work area 34 is composed of memory media capable ofhigh-speed read and write, such as semiconductor memory, while theinformation storage means 35 comprises memory media, such as magneticdisk, optical disk and CD ROM.

The mode for carrying out the retrieval assisting service is variable,and a method by utilizing hypertext browsing interfaces such as WWWbrowse is described below. In the user side computer 3 of FIG. 1,hypertext browsing process 343 already loaded in the work area 34 is inoperation, and on the display means 32, hypertext browsing interface 321is at a state on display.

When an address designated by the retrieval assisting service (namely,the address of the network of the information provider computer 1 andthe file name where the user side hypertext 15F1 for initiatingretrieval assisting if present, and the like) is directly designated atthe address input area 3211 of the hypertext browsing interface 321 orwhen an address designated by the retrieval assisting service ispreliminarily embedded as an anchor in a hypertext displayed on the textdisplay area 3212 of the hypertext browsing interface 321 and theaddress embedded part is clicked with mouse, the hypertext browsingprocess 343 receives the user side hypertext 15F1 for starting retrievalassisting through the user side communication program 342 and theinformation provider side communication program 142. Simultaneously,then, the user side retrieval assisting driving program 15X1 is sent ina dependent manner and is initiated in the work area 34 of the user sidecomputer, which functions as the retrieval assisting program 344, andthe retrieval assisting program 344 displays the retrieval assistinginterface 322 on the display means 32. Additionally, the retrievalassisting interface 322 may be displayed in the hypertext display area3212 or may be displayed in another window. FIG. 1 depicts an example ofthe display in another window.

Alternatively, the user side retrieval assisting driving program 15X1may satisfactorily be received through a communication program by directcommand input and the like, with no use of the hypertext browsingprogram 343, and the program may then operate satisfactorily on the workarea for receiving retrieval assisting service. Still additionally, aservice mode is also possible, comprising preliminarily delivering theuser side retrieval driving program 15X1 to users with such desire, whomay start the program if necessary.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram representing the detail of the user sideretrieval assisting program 344 loaded on the work area 34 of the userside computer 3. The user side retrieval assisting program 344 comprisesmain retrieval assisting routine 3441, data area 3442, and routine forgenerating display data of the search result 3443, routine forgenerating display data of topic word graph 3444, and routine forgenerating display data of topic word list 3445.

The data area 3442 comprises area 34421 for storing various parameters,area 34422 for storing data relevant to interface imaging, query storagearea 34423, search results storage area 34424 a, search results displayorder storage area 34424 b, topic word storage area 34425, between-topicword linking information storage area 34426, topic word/documentcorresponding table storage area 34427, and document/topic wordcorresponding table storage area 34428. The parameter storage area 34421includes parameter 344211 for preparing search results imaging data, aswell as parameter 344212 for preparing topic word graph mapping data.

On the basis of the data 34422 relevant to interface imaging, the userside retrieval assisting routine 3441 displays the retrieval assistinginterface 322 on the display means 32. Additionally, the user sideretrieval assisting routine 3441 carries out various operations,depending on the type of a button on the interface, if pushed withmouse.

FIG. 3 depicts a composition example of retrieval assisting interface322 displayed on display area 32. The retrieval assisting interface 322comprises query input window E1 for a user to input queries such as keywords, button B01 for carrying out key word search, associative searchbutton B02 for carrying out search (associative search) on the basis ofthe similarity to the designated document, text input button B03 forinputting sentences and a set of words for carrying out associativesearch, a set of parts relevant to search, such as DB selection means M1for selecting a text data base as search subjects, a set of objectsrelevant to the displaying of results, such as search results displayarea P1 for displaying search results and topic word display area P2 fordisplaying information characterizing the search results, and a set ofobjects to carry out various operations on the basis of the searchresults and the topic word display. The set of objects for carrying outvarious operations on the basis of the search results and the topic worddisplay, includes expand button B11 for retrieving a document similar tothe selected document or set of documents, prune button B12 fordiscarding documents except the selected document or set of documents,unselect button B12 for releasing all the selection states attached tothe document(s), mark title button B31 for attaching emphasis, such ascheck mark, to the titles of selected documents containing a single or aplurality of topic words, sort button B32 for rearranging the titles inthe decreasing order of mark intensity, clear button B33 for deletingthe marks, mark topic word button B41 for emphasizing topic wordscontained in selected documents, the topic words corresponding to asingle or a plurality of titles, selection button B42 for selectingmarked topic words, clear button B43 for releasing the marks, unselectbutton B23 for releasing all the selected state of topic words, andtopic word selection propagate button B21 for putting topic word withstrong relation with a single or a plurality of topic words selected, atselection state.

The characteristic point of such arrangement is that the search resultsdisplay area P1 for directly displaying search results such as titlelist and topic word display area P2 for displaying the overview of a setof retrieved documents and are arranged adjacently for ready comparison.Advantageously, users can thereby catch instantly specific information(title list) of the search results and the whole abstract information,to readily construct the interaction between the two, as shown in thelatter part of the present example.

FIG. 4 depicts the detail of data storage area 34422 for imagingretrieval interface. The area 34422 is composed of imaging data of allobjects composing the retrieval interface. For example, the data 34422E1for imaging query input window E1 comprises arrangement position, windowsize, display contents (search queries), origin position (number ofwords hidden on the left of the window or the length corresponding tothe number), cursor position, mark position, background color, type ofcharacter font, and type of frame line.

FIG. 5 is a PAD view representing the process flow of the user sideretrieval assisting routine 3441. The retrieval assisting routine 3441primarily manages the retrieval assisting interface, and display searchresults or relevant information, in response to the operation of a user.

Firstly, the parameters (for example, flag) used in the retrievalassisting routine 3441 will be described. Update flag of search resultsimaging (name of parameter is “Fr”) indicates whether the imaging datato be displayed on the search results display area P1 (FIG. 3 ) shouldbe updated. Update flag of topic word imaging (name of parameter is“Fc”) indicates whether the imaging data to be displayed on the topicword display area P2 should be updated. According to the presentretrieval method, the search results display area P1 and topic worddisplay area P2 are required to be updated since the commitment ofretrieval, but such updating is not necessarily required for otheroperations. Neither one is required to be updated, for example, whenquery is inputted. Therefore, these flags should be used so that theseoperations might be done only when these operations are necessary.Additionally, drag mode (name of parameter is MM) indicates the type ofoperation when drag operation with mouse is continued, includingdocument selection (MM=11), display document designation (MM=12), topicword move (MM=21), and topic word selection region (MM=22). Furthermore,parameter MS records the temporary identification number of the documentor of the topic word at a position where mouse is pushed justimmediately beforehand; parameter MF records the selection state of thesame document or topic word before the mouse is pushed; and parameter MDrecords the (global) identification number of a document currentlydisplayed for browsing. At initial process 34411, these parameters areset at start as follows; Fr=Fc=0; MM=0; MS, MF, and MD, no value set.

The processes after 34412 are continuously repeated until quit button ispushed. At first, update operation 34412 of search results display areaimaging data 34422P1 should be effected by using routine for generatingdisplay data of the search result 3443 when the update flag of searchresults imaging (Fr) is on. When the update flag of topic word imaging(Fc) is on, alternatively, update operation 34413 of the topic worddisplay area imaging data 34422P2 should be done by using the routinefor generating display data of topic word graph 3444. Because both theflags are off at start, these operations are skipped.

At the following process 34414, on the basis of the retrieval interfaceimaging data 34422 (FIG. 4), the retrieval interface 322 is imaged onthe display means 32. When these processes are completed, input stand-bystate 34415 is set. The display image of FIG. 3 depicts the displaystate of the retrieval interface 322, at a stage when the retrievalassisting program is initiated to lead to the input stand-by state. Onan input from keyboard and mouse, the stage progresses to branch 34416,where process 3441KB is executed in case of keyboard input (includingcut & paste); process 3441MP is executed in case of mouse push; process3441MD is executed in case of mouse moving under pushing (or dragging);and process 3441MR is executed in case of mouse release. The details ofthese individual processes will be described later.

Through the retrieval assisting interface, users can input query andcarry out various operations. Various methods may be used at thestarting point of the retrieval operation, including for example keyword search by key word input, designation of a highly interestingdocument, to retrieve documents with similarity to the document or justsome sentences or phrases as parts of the document, not as the wholedocument. Firstly, a case starting from key word search will bedescribed.

Queries are inputted into the query input window E1 (FIG. 3) fromkeyboard, but the query input window E1 may sometimes not be at an inputstand-by state at start, so in that case, the query input window E1should be clicked with mouse prior to the initiation of input. Thereby,the process 3441MP for mouse pushing puts the query input window E1 atan input stand-by state. And every character input from the keyboard isstored on display contents area 34422 E13 of the query input imagingdata, by the process 3441KB, then displayed on the query input window bythe imaging process 34414. In other words, the input characters fromkeyboard are consistently and sequentially written on the query inputwindow E1.

After the termination of the input of the queries, retrieval iscommitted on mouse clicking of the keyboard search button B01 (FIG. 3 ).More specifically, the process 3441MR is selected on the branch 34416when the mouse is released, where branching occurs, depending on thetype of a button clicked. In a case of the search button B01, key wordsearch query is transmitted to the retrieval assisting program 143 ofthe information provider side computer 1, so that search results andtopic word information and the like are sent back. Because both theupdate flag of the search results imaging and the update flag of thetopic word imaging are set at on, the search results imaging data updateprocess 34412 and the topic word imaging data update process 34413prepare individual imaging data on the basis of the newly received data,so that the data of the search results display area imaging data 34422P1and the data of the topic word display area imaging data 34422P2 areupdated.

FIG. 6 is a view representing a display example of search results andtopic words on retrieval assisting interface. It is an example ofretrieval interface image after “key word a1, key word a2” input asqueries for key word search. On the search results display area P1, thelist of retrieved documents is output, together with relevance scores.One line corresponds to the information about one document, and eachline is composed of a small window for users to select the correspondingdocument, a numerical figure showing the suitability with the query forthe document, information for a person to identify the document(information about document title, issue date, etc.). Furthermore, thetotal number of retrieved documents is shown on the area L12 thereon. Asthe numerical figure, the retrieved document number “22” is stored ascharacter row information in the “total number (left)” imaging data34422L11 as one of the character row imaging data 34422L in theinterface imaging data 34422, and the number is displayed on the displayarea L12. On the topic word display area P2, furthermore, wordscharacteristically appearing in a set of the retrieved documents aregraphically displayed so that their interactive relation might beidentified. As the method for generating such topic word graphs from theset of the retrieved documents, the method described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 08/888,017 entitled “Document retrieval assistingmethod and system therefor and document retrieval service using thesame” may be used.

FIG. 7 depicts the detail of the search results display area imagingdata 34422P1 (FIG. 4) then. The data is composed of display position,area size, origin position and display contents. The display positionshows at which position in the overall interface frame the area isattached; the origin position shows the coordinate of the imaging arealying at the upper left corner of the display area. By scrolling, thevalue can be modified.

The imaging contents 34422P14 is composed of imaging position, figuretype, and attached information. The first line thereof means that atransparent rectangle should be imaged at position (40, 30) and size (5,5). The second line means that a character row “2” should be imaged atposition (60, 30). Additionally, the third line means that the titlename of the corresponding document, “title-a1” should be imaged atposition (80, 30). By imaging following these lines, then, the firstline of the search results display area P1 of FIG. 6 is to be imaged.The same is true with the second line and thereafter.

Similarly, FIG. 8 depicts the detail of the topic word display areaimaging data 34422P2 (FIG. 4) then. The imaging contents thereof arecomposed of a line imaging data set representing links of graphs and acharacter row imaging data set representing the character row of a node.The line is designated with the start point and end point. For example,the first line means that a line should be imaged from coordinate (80,80) to coordinate (100, 30); and the fifth line means that a characterrow “topic word-a1” is imaged on a background color green at coordinate(100, 30). The graph on the topic word display area P2 of FIG. 6 isimaged, on the basis of the imaging contents.

It has been described insofar that when key word search button B01 ispushed at a state where query “key word al, key word a2” is inputtedfrom the query input window El of the retrieval assisting interfaceimage, various processes are intermediately executed, to generate suchan interface image as shown in FIG. 6, which displays the title list ofsearch results and the information about topic words. It will bedescribed hereinafter the processing course until search results displayarea imaging data 34422P1 and topic word display area imaging data34422P2, shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, are prepared after pushing a searchbutton, that is, to transmit the query to the retrieval assistingprogram 143 of information provider side, to prepare necessaryinformation such as search results and topic words, which is sent backto the user side retrieval assisting program 344 to prepare the imagingdata, based on the information.

When the key word search button B01 is clicked, the demand of key wordsearch is sent to the information provider to receive necessaryinformation at one branch of the process 3441MR which acts when a mousebutton is released.

FIG. 9 is a view representing an example of the contents of the userside query storage area when the key word search button B01 is clickedat the state of FIG. 3 after inputting keywords. As the retrievalmethod, “key word search” is stored; as the retrieval contents (searchqueries), “key word-a1” or “key word-a2” is stored; as the searchsubject data base, furthermore, the currently selected “document DB-D1”is stored. The retrieval contents are prepared from character rows (inthis case, “key word a1”, “key word a2”) stored in the display contentscolumn of the query input area imaging data 34422E1 (FIG. 4).Additionally, the search subject data base is the data base shown in thecolumn of DB selection means M1 in FIG. 3. In practice, the informationis written in the search subject selection area imaging data 34422M1(FIG. 4).

The information provider side retrieval assisting program 143 and datasets used therein are described below in FIGS. 10 through 12.

FIG. 10 is a view representing a composition example of the informationprovider side retrieval assisting program 143 operating in the work area14 of the information provider side computer 1. The retrieval assistingprogram 143 comprises main routine 1431, data area 1432 and sub routines1433 to 1439 and the like. The data area 1432 is composed of area 14321for storing various parameters used in the main routine and sub routine,query storage area 14322, search results storage area 14323, topic wordstorage area 14324, between-topic word linking information storage area14325, topic word/document corresponding table storage area 14326,document/topic word corresponding table storage area 14327,between-topic word co-occurrence table storage area 14328 and the like;and the sub routine is composed of word spelling normalization routine1433, word spelling/word number lookup routine 1434 a, word number/wordspelling lookup routine 1434 b, key word search routine 1435,associative search routine 1436, topic word extraction routine 1437,between-topic word co-occurrence table preparation routine 1438,between-topic word linking information preparation routine 1439 and thelike.

FIG. 11 is a view representing the detail of the data 15D1 relevant to atext data base with an identification name “document DB-D1” as one ofsearch subject data base stored in the information storage means 15 ofthe information provider side computer 1. The data 15D1 is composed oftext data base 15D11, document/word corresponding data 15D12,word/document corresponding data 15D13, word frequency data 15D14,cluster tree 15D15 and the like. The detail of the individual data isnow described below.

The text data base 15D11 is a data base about the text andbibliographical information about a document as a search subject, and onreceipt of the browsing query with designated document identifiers froma user, the information provider side retrieval assisting routine 1431draws out the corresponding document data from the data base to sendback the data to the user.

The document/word corresponding data 15D12 is a list of a set of thenumber of each word contained in the document and the frequency of theword, vs. document number. When the size of a subject document is large,furthermore, not the whole document is defined as a subject of wordcounting, but a part thereof, well reflecting the contents described inthe whole document, such as summary, may be used as a subject.Additionally, only a word list may be used for comparison, with nofrequency data, because of omission.

The document number means an identification number unique to eachdocument contained in the data base, and the word id is anidentification number unique to each of all the words treated as keywords on the present retrieval assisting system. So as to get theidentification number (id) of a word, the word spelling/word id lookuproutine 1434 a (FIG. 10) should be used. So as to get the word spellingof a word, word id/word spelling lookup routine 1434 b (FIG. 10) isused. For these lookup routines, the word id/word spelling lookup tablein the dictionary 15D0 (FIG. 1) is to be referenced.

The word/document corresponding data 15D13 is a data with an inverserelation with the document/word corresponding data 15D12. Morespecifically, each word id corresponds to the list of a set of thenumber of documents containing the word and the frequency of the word.Herein, the frequency data may be omitted, and a list of words(documents) alone may be corresponded.

The word frequency data 15D14 is a data set, vs. each word number d, ofthe frequency F (d) of word d , which means how many times the wordappears in the overall document DB, and the document frequency DF (d) ofword d, which means how many documents contain the word.

The cluster tree 15D15 is in a stratified form prepared by repeatingclustering of similar documents in the document DB (repeating clusteringof similar document clusters into more larger clusters). By using forexample “Document classifying method according to probability model” ofJapanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 9-62693, a document cluster tree of ahigh precision can be prepared. (Word distribution status in a documentmay be gained from the document/word corresponding data 15D12 andbecause the word distribution status can be defined as one vector with abase of the entire words, a method comprising measuring the similarityfrom that angle between word distribution vectors is also present). Thecluster tree is utilized by carrying out associative search (retrievalbased on between-documents similarity) by a top-down binary searchdecomposition method at a high speed. The search is done, through aprocess comprising selecting a cluster where a key document is at ahigher probability, among candidate document clusters, at each branchpoint. The probability of a document belonging to a document cluster iscalculated by using a calculation method according to the JapanesePatent Laid-open No. Hei 9-62693.

FIG. 12 is the detail of the information provider side retrievalassisting routine 1431 (FIG. 10). The routine 1431 starts on receipt ofthe query from auser side. Firstly at branch 14311, keyword search143111 or associative search 143112 is carried out according to thedesignation of a retrieval method on the query. If the query in theexample of FIG. 9 is received, the retrieval method is designated as“key word search” and therefore, key word search should be selected. Forkey word search, retrieval contents storage area 344232 functions as alogical binding of key words, and therefore, an assembly of documentnumbers containing each key word is obtained with reference to theword/document corresponding data 15D13, to calculate an assembly as thelogical binding of them. For associative search, furthermore, a documentsimilar to the document as a key according to the method described inthe description of the cluster tree 15D15, should be retrieved. In anycase, the search results are expressed as assemblies of sets of documentidentification numbers and suitability scores for search queries, andthey are stored in the decreasing order of suitability score in thesearch results storage area 1423. The suitability score for key wordsearch can be gained for example from the number of key words containedtherein, and for associative search, similarity can be used as thescore.

Subsequently, operations including topic word extraction 14312,between-topic word co-occurrence table preparation 143131, between-topicword linking information preparation 143132, topic word graph mappingcoordinate calculation routine 143133, topic word/document correspondingtable preparation 143141, and document/topic word corresponding tablepreparation 143142 are carried out, to send back necessary informationfor representing search results and topic words to users.

The present retrieval assisting method is characterized by theproposition of search results along with the characteristic information.Herein, drawings and descriptions are skipped, but users can selectwhether or not they want them. If a user selects an option of no needthereof, only search results may simply be sent back to the user, so theprocesses after the topic word extraction 14312 can be skipped.

Because the method described in “Document retrieval-assisting method andsystem therefor and document retrieval service by using the same” isused for the topic word extraction 14312 and between-topic wordco-occurrence table preparation 143131 from search results,between-topic word linking information preparation 143132, and topicword graph mapping coordinate calculation routine 143133, briefdescription thereof is simply illustrated herein. By the topic wordextraction 14312 routine, the number df(X) of documents in a searchresults containing each (X) of all the words appearing at least one inthe search results is counted. With reference to the document/wordcorresponding table 15D12, this calculation can be performed in a simplemanner. With reference to the word frequency data 15D14 (FIG. 11),additionally, document frequency DF(X) indicating in how many documentsthese words appear in the entire data base, can be recovered. Since theratio of df(X) to DF(X) represents the extent as to how unusuallyfrequently word X appears in the search results, a word with a largervalue thereof is to be extracted as topic word. Because the comparisonbetween a general word with a larger frequency and a highly specificword with a smaller frequency at an identical scale is very difficult,words are divided in some classes on the basis of the document frequencydf(X) in the search results, to pick up topic words from each frequencyclass of at good balance.

The topic word co-occurrence table generation routine generates atable-form data wherein the topic word extracted by the above method arearranged vertically and horizontally. In a column with topic word Xvertically and topic word Y horizontally, number CF (X, Y) of documentsin the search results where topic word X and Y concurrently appear isplaced.

By between-topic word links generation routine 143132, topic words withlarger frequencies than the frequency of each topic word (X) areprepared in arrangement in the decreasing order of relevance degree. Thecalculation method of the relevance degree between the topic words X andY includes various methods, and one of these methods comprisescalculating the ratio of CF(X, Y)/df(Y) wherein CF(X, Y) and df(Y)represent co-occurrence document frequency CF(X, Y) and documentfrequency of Y (namely, df(Y)) in the search results, respectively.Linking candidates are arranged in the decreasing order of the value.Because not all of the extracted topic words are displayed, actual linkaddress is determined by examining the linking candidates starting fromthe upper order (left) to select the one which is displayed. Since it isvery convenient to examine where links may come, other than the linkaddress, where links may come should be examined to be stored asinformation.

By topic word graph mapping coordinate calculation routine 143133, thecoordinate for arranging a topic word two-dimensionally is calculated onthe basis of topic word linking information, under the provision thatand all topics words are displayed. For brief description of the methodof the U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,460, the document frequency df(X) of eachtopic word in the search results is on the vertical coordinate. (So asto make the parameter region compact, herein, logarithmic representationor inverse tangent function may be used.) On the horizontal coordinate,firstly, nodes with no link address are uniformly arranged within apredetermined range. Thereafter, horizontal coordinates should besequentially determined, recursively, by a method comprising uniformlyarranging the horizontal coordinates of the nodes with the same linkaddress nodes for which the horizontal coordinates are alreadydetermined. Because overlaps of nodes may occur according to the method,furthermore, a right node should be shifted, further toward the rightside, if any overlap is present, to avoid overlapping.

By the topic word/document corresponding table preparation routine143141, a data to correspond the temporary ID numbers of retrieveddocuments containing a topic word among the retrieved documents to thetemporary ID number of the topic word, should be prepared, withreference to the word/document corresponding data 15D13. Herein, thetemporary ID number of a word means the number representing whatposition is occupied by the topic word stored in the topic word storagearea. Additionally, the temporary ID number of a document stored in thesearch results storage area means what position is occupied by thedocument.

By the document/topic word corresponding table preparation routine143142, a table to correspond the temporary ID numbers of topic wordscontained in each retrieved document to the document is prepared withreference to the document/word corresponding data 15D12.

After completion of the aforementioned operations, the informationprovider side retrieval assisting routine 1431 sends back the datarelevant to the search results and topic words and the data representingthe relation between documents and topic words, to users. Hereinafter,FIGS. 13A and 13B to 17 show examples of data sent back to a user side.

FIGS. 13A and 13B are examples of the data of transmitted searchresults. The data is divided as main part (a) and data (b) relevant todisplay order. The main user side search results storage area 34424 a iscomposed of temporary document number, flag relevant to documentselection, the mark intensity attached to a document, documentidentification number, suitability score with search queries, andinformation for users to identify a document, such as title and issuedate. (The temporary document number is a number indicating at whatposition the document is stored in the table, but the documentidentification number is rather used for actually recovering documentcontents.) The selection flag and the mark intensity are at states ofall clear, as initially set by an information provider side. When a useroperates the retrieval assisting interface 322(FIG. 3 ), these valueschange and correspondingly, the interface image changes. The selectionflag is on (1) when a user designates a document as interesting. Theflag is utilized for associative search based on the selected documentsor for marking (emphasizing) topic word contained in the selecteddocuments. The selection flag may take two values, namely on (1) and off(0), or may be three values of 1/0/−1 when negative selection (selectionindicating no active interest) is permitted. In the present example, twovalues of 1/0 are present. As to the mark intensity, alternatively, amechanism exists for selecting such intensity for topic word, and isutilized for a case of marking a document containing the selected topicwords, and the like. A greater number of topic word species increasesthe mark intensity.

As to the suitability score, the former two have a value of 2 and theremaining ones have a value of 1 in the example of FIG. 13A, whichindicates that, by using a scoring method on the basis of the number ofthe species of designated key words being contained for key word search,the former two contain both the designated key words “KW-a1” and “KW-a2”and are accordingly scored as point 2, while others except them containonly either one of them and are therefore scored as point 1. Variousmethods may be applicable as the calculation method of suitabilitydegree. When associative search (similarity) is done, furthermore, thesimilarity may be used as such score, as it is or after somenormalization by a certain process. As the normalization process, forexample, a process is illustrated, comprising defining a document withthe highest similarity as point 100 and subsequently proportionallydividing the score.

FIG. 13B is a data relevant to the display order of documents. Becausethe data is represented in the increasing order of temporary documentnumbers, as initially sent from an information provider side, thedocuments are arranged in the sequential order from 1. As will bedescribed below, the present retrieval assisting interface has sortingfunction B32 (button B32 (see FIG. 3 )) based on mark intensity, toprovide a function to display documents in the decreasing order of themark intensity. In order that the document display order can be changedor reversed to the original state when the function is used, the displayorder storage area 34424 b is substantially used.

FIG. 14 is an example of the data relevant to topic words. The datastored in the user side topic word storage area 34425 is composed of thetemporary topic word number, flag showing whether or not the topic wordappear in graph mapping, selection flag, mark intensity, word spelling,display position on a topic word graph, and frequency class.

As to the flags concerning the presence or absence in graphic display,the former five are defined as 1 (present) and the remaining ones aredefined as 0 (absent) in the example of FIG. 14. The number 5 indicatesthat the number of words appearing in graphs is defined by presetting inthe parameters storing area 344212 in FIG. 2, and an informationprovider side or both an information provider side and a user side canpreset parameters for actually determining the value. Under nopresetting from a user side, the preset value from an informationprovider side is to be used as default.

Like the case of search results, the selection flag and mark intensityare at initial states of all clear. Graphic display position isrepresented as a value calculated by a provider side retrieval routine1431 according to the topic word graph mapping coordinate calculationroutine 143133 (FIG. 12). The frequency class is represented as aclassification value, depending on the document frequency in the searchresults of topic words in the topic word extraction routine 14312 (FIG.12). Class 1 represents a relatively high frequency; Class 2 representsa moderate frequency; and Class 3 represents a relatively low frequency.

FIG. 15 depicts one example of between-topic word linking informationdata. Words to be linked from each topic word are arranged in thedecreasing order of the preference for graphic mapping of topic words.The data is represented in such a form that a list of temporary topicword numbers as linking candidates might correspond to a temporary topicword number. When a set of words to be expressed on graphs aredetermined, the most preferential linking partner is selected amonglinking candidates. For example, the preferential order from a topicword with the temporary topic word number 3 is 1, 2, - - - , but for thedata of FIG. 14, temporary topic word numbers 1 through 5 are displayedon graphic display, and therefore, the first number 1 is the linkingpartner. The linking base list is automatically prepared from thelinking partner data.

FIG. 16 is an example of the topic word/document corresponding table.The table is shown in such a form that a document list with temporarynumbers of documents containing each topic word corresponds to thetemporary number of the topic word. This is prepared with reference tothe word/document corresponding data 15D13 (FIG. 11) in the topicword/document corresponding table preparation routine 143141 (FIG. 12).

FIG. 17 is one example of the document/topic word corresponding table.The table is shown in such a form that the list of temporary numbers oftopic words contained in each document with a temporary number as searchresults corresponds to the document. The table is prepared withreference to the document/word corresponding data 15D13 in thedocument/topic word corresponding table preparation routine 143142 (FIG.12).

The topic word/document correspondence and the document/topic wordcorrespondence are in the inverse relation with each other. In FIG. 16,for example, the document with a temporary document number 1 appears inthe columns with temporary topic word numbers 1,2 and 4, while in FIG.17, the topic word numbers 1, 2 and 4 appear in the column with adocument number 1.

Based on the received data described insofar (search results and topicword data), user side retrieval assisting routine 3441 (FIG. 5) carriesout updating process 34412 of search results imaging data and updatingprocess 34413 of topic word imaging data. For updating of search resultsimaging data, the routine for generating display data of the searchresult 3443 (FIG. 2) is used as subroutine; for updating of topic wordimaging data, routine for generating display data of topic word graph3444 is used as subroutine. Additionally, these imaging data preparationroutines utilize the parameter values preset in the parameter storagearea 34421 (FIG. 2). The routines and parameter values are described indetail by using FIGS. 18 to FIGS. 21A through 21C.

FIG. 18 depicts the detail of the parameter 344211 to be used for searchresults imaging data preparation. There are parameters such as lineinterval (Δy), mark display position (x1), mark shift width (Δx1), bitmap mark identifier (Bm), selection window display horizontal coordinate(x2), selection window size (h, v), window display color (CS0) forunselect, window display color for select (CS1), horizontal coordinateof score display position right end (x3), horizontal coordinate of titledisplay position left end (x4), background color (CD) of title displayarea of document display, title display font (F), and the like. Thecharacter rows shown in ( ) are for reference in the description of theroutine for generating display data of the search result 3443.

FIGS. 19A through 19C depict the detail of routine for generatingdisplay data of the search result 3443, which is used for the searchresults imaging data update routine 34412 of the retrieval assistingroutine 3441 (FIG. 5). At initial presetting 34431, firstly, variable“i” representing display order and variable “y” representing thevertical coordinate value of the display position should be preset at 0.At loop 34432, the following process should be repeated at the number ofdocuments as search results. Firstly at the process 34433, the value ofvariable “i” and the value of variable “y” should be incremented by 1and Δy, respectively. Δy is a value preset as a line interval value fordisplaying search results in the parameter 344211 (FIG. 18). (Thenumerical figure of the vertical coordinate of the display positionincreases from top to down.) Additionally, the temporary number of adocument displayed on the sequential order “i” is substituted with thevariable “n”. With reference to the search results display order storagearea 34424 b (FIG. 13B), the value is determined by picking up a numbercorresponding to the display order i. In the following description,furthermore, “document with a temporary document number n”, if describedaccurately, should be abbreviated as “document n”, if no specificconcern of the occurrence of any mistake exists.

Subsequently, mark imaging data preparation routine 34434, selectionwindow imaging data preparation routine 34435, score imaging datapreparation routine 34436, and imaging data preparation routine oftitle, etc., 34437 are performed. The former two are described in detailin FIG. 19B and 19C, respectively. At the score imaging data preparationroutine 34436, an imaging data of “position (x3, y), diagramtype=character row, attaching position=lower right, character row=(decimal expression of the score of document n)” is added to the searchresults imaging data 34422P1 (FIG. 7). Herein, x3 is preset as thehorizontal coordinate of the right end of the score display position inthe search results imaging data preparing parameter 344211 (FIG. 18).

Finally at the imaging data preparation routine of title, etc. 34437,temporal variable col is set to the background color CD (FIG. 18) of thetitle display area during the display of the document if the document isdisplayed, and otherwise, col is set to transparent. Whether or not thedocument is on display is determined, depending on whether or not theidentification number of the document (indicated in the document numbercolumn of the search results storage area 34424 a) is equal to the valueof the variable MD to be used in the retrieval assisting routine 3441(FIG. 5). Continuously, an imaging data of “position (x4, y)”, diagramtype=character row, attaching position=lower left, background color=col,character row=“(title of document n)” is added to the search resultsimaging data 34422P1. Herein, x4 is a value, parametrically preset asthe horizontal coordinate of the left end of the title display position(FIG. 18). The score of the document n and the title of the document ncan be picked up from the corresponding column of the search resultsstorage area 34424 a.

FIG. 19B is the detail of the mark imaging data preparation routine34434. By the operation, a process of adding an imaging data to displaya mark symbol (check mark, etc.) parameter preset in the variable Bm(FIG. 18) as a bit map identifier for marking, to the search resultsimaging data 34422P1 (FIG. 7) is repeated at a number of timescorresponding to the mark intensity of the document n (recovered fromthe search results storage area 34424 a). For display on the horizontalcoordinate (X), the parameter preset value x1 as mark display positionis substituted by initial presetting 344341 , and after shifting, markis shifted each time by a shift corresponding to the similarly presetvalue Δx1 as mark shift pitch (FIG. 18) for display. Therefore, a checkmark with a broadness in proportion to the mark intensity is drawn.

FIG. 19C depicts the detail of the selection window imaging datapreparation routine 34435. At conditional branch 344351, firstly, it isdetermined whether or not the document n is selected (as indicated bythe selection flag in the search results storage area 34424 a) and ifselected, the window display color (col) is defined as a color(unambiguous color such as red) and otherwise, the color is defined asan ambiguous color (transparency, etc.). Continuously at conditionalbranch 344352, if it is judged whether the document pushed justimmediately beforehand with mouse is in the line MS from top and theposition currently designated with mouse is in the line MP from top andthat the mouse is in the course of document selection (MM=11), is “n”present in between the position pushed with mouse and the positioncurrently designated, as shown by the formula MS≦n≦MP or MP≦n≦MS. ifyes, then it is judged whether the article of the position user mousebutton was pushed is preliminarily selected or not. If selected,non-selection color CS0 is substituted with the variable col, and theselection color CS1 is substituted with the variable col, if notselected. By further using the designated value X2 as the horizontalcoordinate of selection window and (h, v) as the size of the selectionwindow, an imaging data of “position (x2, y), diagram type=rectangle,size (h, v), color=col” should added to the search results imaging data34422P1. Thereby, the selection window is colored with the selectioncolor (CS1) of the document at selected state or a document currentlyunder dragging to be put at selection state; otherwise, the document iscolored with non selection color (CS2).

FIG. 20 depicts the detail of the topic word graph mapping datapreparation parameter 344212. The background color, font type and frameline color of a part displaying the character row of a topic word aredesignated, and for them, individually, values during selection ornon-selection or values marked or not marked are designated. In thisexample, the background color is green and the font is general one, whena topic word is not selected; if selected, the background color isorange and the font is a font for emphasis; if marked, the frame linecolor is red, and otherwise, the line color is transparent. Generally,prominent color and prominent font are preferably used, if selected orif marked.

FIG. 21A depicts the detail of the routine for generating display dataof topic word graph 3444, for use in the topic word imaging data updateroutine 34413 of the retrieval assisting routine 3441 (FIG. 5). Firstly,if the drag mode of the retrieval assisting routine 3441 works to movetopic word (MM=21), the shift value (vertical, horizontal) from theposition where the mouse was pushed should be substituted with thevariable ΔM; if the drag mode works to set the topic word selectionregion (MM=22), a data imaging the topic word selection region(rectangle with diagonal angles on the position where the mouse waspushed and the position currently designated) is added to the topic wordimaging data 34422P2.

Continuously, a data imaging the node of a topic word (temporarynumber=i) with a display flag being on as well as a data imaging thelink from the topic word is prepared. Firstly at the process 34444, avariable “place” is substituted with the display position of topic word“i”. The value can be gained from the topic word storage area 34425(FIG. 14). Additionally, whether or not the display flag of topic wordare on can be known, similarly, from the corresponding column of thetopic word storage area. When the mode is topic word move mode (MM=21)and the selection flag of the topic word “i” is on, continuously, ΔM(mouse move distance) previously calculated is added to the variable“place”. (More specifically, the display position varies, depending onthe mouse move.) In such manner, the preparation routine 34446 (FIG.21B) of the imaging data of links from the topic word “i” and thepreparation routine 34447 of the imaging data of the node of the topicword “i” are executed.

FIG. 21B depicts the detail of the preparation routine 34446 of theimaging data of links from the topic word “i”. If any of linkingpartners from the topic word “i” is present, all of such linkingpartners are processed as follows. At the process 344462, firstly, thedisplay position of a linking partner (in the topic word storage area34425) is substituted with a variable “end”. Continuously when the modeis the topic word move mode (MM=21) and the selection flag of thelinking partner is on, the ΔM as the mouse move is added to the variable“end” of the linking partner. By presetting as described above, theimaging data of “position=place, diagram type=line, end position=end” isadded to the topic word imaging data 34422P2.

FIG. 21C depicts the detail of the preparation routine 34447 of the nodeimaging data of the topic word “i”. Depending on whether or not thetopic word “i” is selected, the background color “cb” and font “ft” areset at preset values, and depending on whether or not the topic word “i”is marked, the frame line color “cf” is set at the preset value. Then,the imaging data of “position=(display position of topic word i),diagram type character row, attaching position=center, backgroundcolor=cb, font=ft, frame line color=cf” should be added to the topicword imaging data 34422P2.

Various functions provided to users by the present retrieval assistinginterface are described hereinbelow. By utilizing various combinationsof these functions, users can analyze search results or can browse thedesired search results while selecting the optimal retrieval method andrefining the search queries.

The retrieval assisting routine 3441 for operating the interface hasalready been shown in FIG. 5, but the details as to which process worksfor various inputs, such as button operation and mouse operation, whereomitted. As shown in FIG. 5, the part corresponds to the process 3441KBfor keyboard input, the process 3441MP when mouse is pushed, the process3441MD when mouse is moved under pushing, and the process 3441MR whenthe mouse is released. With reference to FIGS. 22 to 26A and 26Bhereinbelow, these are described in detail.

FIG. 22 depicts the detail of the process 3441KB for keyboard input.Because plural interface objects with a possibility of receiving inputare present, it should be determined firstly which object is at a statecapable of receiving input, and when the query input window E1 (FIG. 3)is at a state capable of receiving input, the input characters should beadded to a position designated with the cursor position 34422E15 of thedisplay contents 34422E13 in the query input imaging data 34422E1 of theinterface imaging data storage area 34422 (FIG. 4). The contents aredisplayed on the query input window El on the interface, at theinterface image imaging process 34414 (FIG. 5) of the retrievalassisting routine 3441. (Hence, the input from keyboard is going to bewritten on the query input window E1.) As to the method for executingdeletion input, a number of variations are possible, but a method issuggested, comprising deleting characters from the mark position to thecursor position when the mark position is designated, and deleting acharacter just immediately before the cursor position, if no position isdesignated.

It is also a convenient setting that when the query input window E1 isat a receivable state, the same process as the case of pushing a keyword search button should be effected if a carriage return is inputted,so that the present retrieval method is easier to use.

As an additional input receiving window, text input part TE1 (describedbelow in the description of FIG. 36) to be opened when text input buttonB03 is pushed is present, and text should necessarily be inputtedtherein from keyboard. The detail is described in the section “textinput function”.

FIG. 23A depicts the detail of the process 3441MP in the retrievalassisting routine 3441 when mouse is pushed. When any input window ispushed, the input window falls into an input receiving state (Process3441MP-E). Because the process 3441MP-P1 for the case the positionpushed is on the search results display area P1 as well as the process3441MP-P2 when the position is on the topic word display area P2requires complex procedures, these processes are shown separately inFIG. 23B and FIG. 23C, respectively.

FIG. 23B depicts the detail of the process 3411MP-P1 when mouse ispushed on the search results display area P1. Firstly at the process3441MP-P1-1, the sequential order of the pushed document from top isrecorded in the variable MS (FIG. 5) used in the retrieval assistingroutine 3441 when the area is pushed. Then, branch 3441MP-P1-2 comes,depending on the position of mouse pushed, and when the position is onthe selection window (small rectangle) of any document (see FIG. 6), thevariable MM used in the retrieval assisting routine 3441 is defined as11, which indicates that the mode is during document selection.Furthermore, the value of a selection flag just immediately before thepushing of mouse on the corresponding document (the value is gained fromthe search results storage area 34424 a (FIG. 13A)) is substituted withthe variable MF. When the pushed position is on the score or titledisplay area of any document, the mode variable MM is set at the value(=12) meaning that the display document is on the way of designation.

These values are referenced and used when mouse is moved under pushingor released, to facilitate the processes corresponding to the individualvalues. Therefore, what effects may be brought about are described inthe section for processes for mouse move or mouse release.

At the end of the process 3441MP-P1 for mouse push on the search resultdisplay area, the search results imaging update flag Fr (FIG. 5) is setat 1 (on), so that the search results imaging data be updated.

FIG. 23C depicts the detail of the process 3441MP-P2 when mouse ispushed on the topic word display area P2.

For mouse operation for topic word, a designated topic word is used assearch key word, or selection/non selection (+move) is done. In thepresent example, it is preset such that selection/non selection isexecuted with left mouse, while key word addition or deletion can beexecuted with right mouse. It is needless to say that these may bereplaced with each other. Additionally, it is preset that differentoperations may be performed, depending on the use of shift key incombination or no such use, but these may also be replaced with eachother. Therefore, the description herein is about a method for thepractice of one of possible presetting.

At the process 3441MP-P2 when mouse is pushed, firstly, branching isdone, depending on whether or not the position where mouse is pushedlies on any topic word. When mouse is pushed on a topic word, branchingis effected, depending on the mouse type, and for left mouse, thefollowing operations are effected.

Firstly, conditional branching is effected, depending on whether or notshift key is pushed, and by a concurrent use of left mouse and shiftkey, the process 3441MP-P2-1 is effected to toggle the selection/nonselection of the pushed topic word alone. In other words, the value inthe selection flag column of the topic word storage area 34425 (FIG. 14)should be rewritten. When left mouse is pushed with no use of shift key,further branching is effected, depending on the selection state of thepushed topic word, and when the topic word is already at selectionstate, no operation is effected; when the topic word is at non selectionstate, the topic word is set at selection state while other topic wordsare all set at non selection state. The above processes correspond tothe process 3441MP-P2-2.

When a pushed topic word falls into selection state after theaforementioned processes are effected by using left mouse, the value ofmode variable MM in the retrieval assisting routine 3441 is set at thevalue (=21) meaning the topic word under moving. Thereby, mouse moveunder pushing can move a selected topic word, following the move of themouse.

No operation is executed if right mouse is pushed on a topic word, butwhen released, an operation for adding the selected topic word to queryor deleting the topic word from query is effected (see the operationwhen mouse is released, as described below).

When the position pushed with mouse does not lie on any topic word, theprocess 3441MP-P2-3 is executed to set the value of the mode variable MMat the value (=22) meaning that the topic word selection region is nowunder the way of setting. Thereby, a rectangle representing the topicword selection region is displayed on the topic word display area P2when mouse is moved under pushing, to effect the process of selectingall topic words with some overlap with the topic word selection region,when the mouse is released.

At the end of process 3441MP-P2 for mouse push on the topic wordsdisplay area by setting the update flag of topic word imaging Fc (FIG.5) at 1 (on), the imaging data on the topic word display area is to beupdated.

FIG. 24 depicts the detail of the process 3441MD during mouse move underpushing (during dragging operation). The following processes areeffected, depending on the position of mouse pushed just immediatelybeforehand. Because mouse was pushed on the selection window of thesearch results display area, the update flag of search results imagingFr (FIG. 5) is set at on (=1), to continuously update the imagingcontents on the search results display area during move. In case mousewas pushed on the topic word display area, furthermore, the update flagof topic word imaging Fc is set at on (=1) to continuously update theimaging contents on the topic word display area. In case mouse waspushed on any of buttons except those described above and the mouse iscurrently positioned on the same button as when the mouse was pushed,the button is set at a pushed state; otherwise, the button is put at astate not pushed. [Rewriting the data of the corresponding button in theinterface imaging data storage area 34422 (FIG. 4).]

For the former two cases, herein, the update flag of search resultsimaging Fr or the update flag of topic word imaging Fc are set at on,respectively, to continuously update individual imaged contents duringmove, and how these operations appear on image will now be describedbelow.

First case starts dragging from the selection window of the searchresults display area therefor the mode MM is set to 11 by the process3441MP-P31-3 of FIG. 23B. And at the selection window imaging datapreparation routine 34435 (FIG. 19C) of the routine for generatingdisplay data of the search result 3443 to update the search resultsimaging data, the mode is checked at branch 344352; at documentselection mode (MM=11), the selection state of a document between at theposition (MS) where mouse is pushed just immediately beforehand and atthe position currently designated is locally modified, to effect theprocess of setting the document at an inverse value of the selectionflag (substituted with the variable MF) of the document at the positionwhere mouse is pushed just immediately beforehand. (At the process3441MP-P1 when mouse is pushed, variables MM, MS and MF are alreadyset.) More specifically, when the selection window of a document at anon-selection state is pushed with mouse which is then moved underpushing, the selection windows of all documents between at the positionpushed and at the current position are imaged with the color for theselected state.

It should be noted herein that the change of the selection state of adocument simply means that the change is local, not for rewriting theselection flag of the search results storage area 34424 a (FIG. 13A). Inother words, the initial selection flags of individual documents arestored, and therefore, the flags after temporary change along with mousemove can be reversed to initial states. When mouse starts from the thirddocument to move downward as it is, to subsequently reach the seventhdocument (provided that the third document is initially selected), thethird to seventh documents are put at selected state. By changing thedirection while pushing the mouse to move the mouse upward to reach thefifth document, the third to fifth documents are put at selected states,and others except these are reversed to the initial states.

Then, a case will be described such that the area pushed with mouse justimmediately beforehand is the topic word display area to display topicword graphs. The following two cases are illustrated, wherein theimaging contents are changed during move. One case is such that mouse ispushed on a topic word and the topic word is immediately thereafter putto selected state; and the other case is such that mouse is pushed onthe base area with no display of topic word. It should be noted that atthe process 3441MP-P2 (FIG. 23C), the mode variable is set at topic wordmove mode (MM=21) in the former case, while in the latter case, the modevariable is set at topic word selection area setting mode (MM=22).

The generation of imaging data is done by the routine for generatingdisplay data of topic word graph 3444 (FIG. 21A). Firstly, in case oftopic word move mode (MM=21), mode determination is done at branch34441, to record mouse move distance on the variable ΔM. Imagingposition of topic word nodes for preparing an imaging data of topicwords selected are based on the coordinate written in the topic wordstorage area 34425 (FIG. 14), but the mouse move from the pushed pointshould be added to the imaging position for a selected topic word at theprocess 34445. More specifically, the imaging position shifts by themouse move. Because ΔM is added to the coordinate when topic wordscorresponding to the link start or end points are selected even in thelinking imaging data preparation routine 34446 (FIG. 21B), andfurthermore, links are also transferable together with the transfer oftopic words, and are then to be displayed.

Then, the case of topic word selection region setting mode (MM=22) isdescribed. In this case, process 344412 is selected at conditionalbranch 34441, to prepare an imaging data of a rectangle with diagonalangles lying on the position of mouse pushed and the currentlydesignated position as a topic word selection region and display thedata.

FIGS. 25A through 25C depict the detail of the process 3441MR when mouseis released (mouse is reversed to the initial state from the pushedstate). FIG. 25A is the overall view separately including a case whereinthe position pushed just immediately beforehand with mouse is the searchresults display area (3441MR-P1, FIG. 25B); a case wherein the positionis the topic word display area (3441MR-P2, FIG. 25C); a case whereinmouse is pushed at other parts; and a case wherein the mouse is releasedon the same parts (3441MR1, FIGS. 26A and 26B).

FIG. 25B depicts the detail of the process 3441MR-P1 of the retrievalassisting routine 3441 when mouse is released, provided that theposition pushed just immediately beforehand is the search resultsdisplay area.

When conditional branching occurs at the position pushed justimmediately beforehand and when mouse is pushed on the selection windowof any document (when the mode variable MM is 11), the process3441MR-P1-1 is executed; provided that the inverse value of theselection flag just immediately before the pushing of a document at aposition where mouse is pushed is defined as “tmp”, the selection flagsof all documents displayed between at the position where mouse is pushedand at the position where mouse is released are defined as “tmp” in thesearch results storage area 34424 a (FIG. 13A).

When the position pushed just immediately beforehand is on the score ortitle of any document (in case that the modevariable MM is 12), theprocess 3441MR-P1-2 is executed, to substitute the identification numberof a defined document with the identification number variable (MD) of adocument displayed in the retrieval assisting routine 3441. When not yetopened on display means 32, document browsing means 322R is opened. Aquery to demand to send the contents of the corresponding document istransmitted to information provider side retrieval assisting program143, which displays the contents of the document demanded on thedocument browsing means 322R (see the description of FIG. 27 describedbelow).

For carrying out these operations, mouse pushing should be done on partsvisible on the search results display area P1, but mouse release maysatisfactorily be done on invisible parts thereon.

At the process 3441MR-P1-3, finally, the mode variable MM of theretrieval assisting routine 3441 is set at 0 to set the variable atgeneral state, irrespective of the position where mouse is pushed justimmediately beforehand.

FIG. 25C depicts the detail of the process 3441MR-P2 of the retrievalassisting routine 3441 when mouse is released, provided that theposition pushed just immediately beforehand is on the topic word displayarea during the display of topic word graphs.

Depending on the value of mode variable MM in the retrieval assistingroutine, a different process should be executed. Because mouse is pushedon the topic word display area during the display of topic word graphs,possible values of mode variable MM are 0, 21 and 22. 21 means the modeof moving the selected topic word; 22 means the mode of setting topicword selection region; and 0 means modes except these modes (see theprocess 3441MP-P2 in FIG. 23C).

At the mode during the move of topic word (MM=21), left mouse is pushedon a topic word node when mouse is pushed just immediately beforehand,so that the topic word falls into selection state immediately after suchpushing. When mouse is released in this case, the process 3441MR-P2-1 isexecuted, to modify the display position coordinate of all topic wordsat selected state in the topic word storage area 34425, by thedifference between the position currently designated with mouse and theposition pushed just immediately beforehand. During move since mousepushing, the same process is executed for calculating the coordinate ofan imaging data at the routine for generating display data of topic wordgraph 3444, but the display position in the topic word storage area34425 of itself is not modified. Mouse release means the settlement ofthe move partner of the topic word, so that the coordinate position ofthe topic word storage area 34425 is rewritten.

The topic word selection region setting mode (MM=22) put at on at thetiming of mouse release is arranged by mouse pushed just immediatelybeforehand on base positions, not on the node of any topic word [seeFIG. 23C, process 3441MP-P2-4]. Depending on whether or not shift key ispushed when mouse is released, a different process is executed. Whenshift key is pushed, the selection/non selection state of all of topicwords overlapped with the topic word selection region (rectangle regionwith diagonal angles on mouse pushed position and mouse releasedposition) is toggled. If shift key is not pushed, all of the topic wordoverlapped with the topic word selection region should be set atselection state, while others except these topic words should be set atnon selection state. (In any case, the selection flags of the topic wordstorage area 34425 should be rewritten.)

In a special case that the base area with no display of any topic wordon the topic word display area P2 is clicked, all topic words are at nonselection state because the topic word display region is displayed asone point on areas with no display of topic words. Furthermore, thisun-selecting operations can be executed by pushing the unselect (right)button as described below.

Excluding these two cases, general mode (MM=0) is on. (One case is suchthat right mouse is used and the other case is such that immediatelyafter pushing of a topic word node by using left mouse, the topic wordis set at non selection state.) When the position pushed justimmediately beforehand with right mouse is on any topic word node andthe mouse is then released on the same topic word, the followingoperation should be executed, depending on whether or not shift key isused in combination with mouse pushed just immediately beforehand ordepending on the on/off of the selection flag of the designated topicword. When mouse is pushed while pushing shift key and the selectionflag is on, all the same words as any of selected topic words aredeleted from the graph in put column. When mouse is pushed while pushingshift key and the selection flag is off, all the same words as thedesignated topic words should be deleted among the words on query inputcolumn. When the selection flag is on without pushing of shift key, allthe topic words at selection state should be added to the query inputcolumn. When the selection flag is off with no pushing of any shift key,only the designated topic words are added to the query input column.

Furthermore, finally, operation 3441MR-P2-4 to set mode variable MM togeneral state 0 is executed.

FIG. 26A and 26B depict the detail of the process when buttons and thelike on the retrieval assisting interface 322 are clicked. Moreaccurately, the figures depict the detail of the operations, when mouseis pushed on an object such as button and mouse is then released on thesame object, and because such operations are mostly executed withclicking, the operations are referred to as the case of mouse clickingfor simple description, unless otherwise required. Hereinafter, theoperations will be described, following the sequence of figures.

When key word search button B01 is clicked, key word search query issent to information provider side computer 1, which receives informationconcerning search results and topic words. Because search resultsimaging data and topic word imaging data should necessarily be updated,individual update flags Fr and Fc on retrieval assisting routine 3441should be set at 1 (on).

Associative search button B02 is the same as the case for key wordsearch case, and in this case, the retrieval process is designated as“associative search” in light of the contents of query in this case, andthe retrieval contents are designated as word row or address on network(URL on Internet). When the address on network is designated, aninformation provider firstly recovers a document at the designatedaddress to compose word rows contained therein to use them as the inputfor associative search.

The search results and topic word information when associative search isexecuted are in the same form as in key word search. In the columnsuitability score in the search results storage area 34424a (FIG. 13A),however, the similarity degree (or relevance degree) or the degree in anormalized form should be placed. Also in this case, the imaging updateflags Fr and Fc both are set at on.

For text input button B03, text input means 322T (see FIG. 36) should beopened as another window for text input. Text input is for inputting aninteresting phrase or paragraph or a further longer chapter or sectionor the whole text through keyboard input or cut and paste operation frominput part TE1 of the text input means, which is used as key forassociative search.

The expand button (B11) is for associative search by using as the key aset of selected documents if one or more documents are selected amongsearch results. Fr and Fc both should be set at on.

Prune button (B12) works to define the set of selected documents (one ormore) among search results, as new search results. Because topic wordextraction from the new search results should be effected again, theassembly of the selected documents is sent to an information providerand receive therefrom the results of topic word extraction. (Fr=Fc=1).

Unselect (left) button (B31) can release entirely the selected state ofdocuments. More specifically, all the selection flags in the searchresults storage area 34424 a should be set at 0. (Fr=1)

Mark title button (B31) functions to make unambiguous the documentsamong search results containing selected topic word which operates toput marks such as check mark on the left ends of the correspondingdocuments on the search results display area. If plural types of topicwords are selected, furthermore, documents containing more such topicwords should be made distinctive, and therefore, it is effective to putmarks at a broadness in proportion to the number of the topic wordscontained. Because which documents contain each selected topic word canbe identified with reference to the data in the topic word/documentcorresponding table storage area 34427, in practical operation,documents containing each selected topic word as search results shouldbe examined, to increase the value of the mark intensity in thecorresponding column of the search results storage area 34424 a by anincrement of 1. (Fr=1) Sort button (B32) is for rearranging thedocuments as search results in the decreasing order of the intensity ofa mark attached to the search result. Conveniently, users can therebycollectively check documents more intensely marked. Practically,temporary document numbers rearranged in the decreasing order of themark intensity column in the search results storage area 34424 a arestored in the search results display order storage area 34424 b (FIG.13B). (If the intensities are equal, the initial order should be stored(in the increasing order of temporary document numbers) (Fr=1).

Because documents of the corresponding document numbers are sequentiallydisplayed in the order of the search results display order storage area34424 b by the routine for generating display data of the search result3443 (FIGS. 19A through 19C), documents at a high rank of the markintensity can be first displayed. If the mark intensities are equal, theoriginal order is stored for display.

When sort button is clicked at all un-marked state, in a specific case,the original order can be restored. This is because documents arerearranged so that the original order might wholly be stored since themark intensities are all 0. This is a convenient function for restoringthe original arrangement state, after marking and sorting are executedfor rearranging the order.

Clear (left) button (B33) works to set all the mark intensities ofdocuments as search results at 0 (Fr=1). Thereby, all the marks can bedeleted.

Mark topic word button (B41) works to make unambiguous the topic wordscontained in the selected documents. For more specific description, whentopic words displayed in the topic word display column P2 are containedin any of the selected documents, the topic words are displayed withemphasis. For example, it is illustrated a method to attach vivid colorsuch as red to frame lines or a method to modify the character font.

Because it can be identified, with reference to the data of thedocument/topic word corresponding table storage area 34428, whichdocument contains which topic word, at practical operation, topic wordscontained in each of the selected documents should be examined toincrease the value of the mark intensity in the corresponding column ofthe topic word storage area 34425 (FIG. 14) by an increment of 1 (Fc=1).

At the imaging data preparation routine 34447 (FIG. 21C) of topic wordnodes at the routine for generating display data of topic word graph3444, it is determined whether or not topic words are marked, and ifmarked, the emphasis color (CFM1) preset in the topic word graph mappingdata preparation parameter 344212 (FIG. 20) is used for the frame lines,the topic words thereby emphasized are emphatically displayed.

Selection button (B42) is a function to set all the marked topic wordsat selection state. If the mark intensity is 0, the selection flag is 0;otherwise, the selection flag is 1. Fc is set at 1.

Clear (right) button (B43) is for clearing the marks attached to thetopic word. More specifically, the mark intensity columns in the topicword storage area 34425 are set at 0. Fc is set at 1.

The unselect (right) button (B23) works to wholly release the selectionstates of topic words. More specifically, the selection flag columns inthe topic word storage area 34425 are all set at 0. Fc is set at 1.

Propagate button (B21) is a function to add all topic words linkedthrough one link path from the already selected topic words to selectionstate. Among the individual topic words in the topic word storage area34425, a topic word as a linking partner and a linking source of eachtopic word at selection state should be identified, with reference tothe between-topic word linking information storage area 34426 (FIG. 15),and then, these topic words are all put at selection state. Fc is set at1.

Quit button (B04) is for terminating the present retrieval assistinginterface.

DB selection means (M1) works to select the data base as a searchsubject, wherein the names of the DB usable are proposed in a menu formto select a search subject therefrom. When the selection menu isdisplayed on the DB selection means and any one thereof is clicked, thedesignated data base is selected as a search subject.

Description as to the associative search button (TB1), clear button(TB2) and quit button (TB3) of the text input means 322T will be given,with reference to FIG. 36 below.

Hereinafter, it will be described how image display changes when variousoperations are executed by using the present retrieval assistinginterface 322. Because the processes which are conducted then at theretrieval assisting routine 3441 is already present in the descriptionsof FIG. 5, FIGS. 19A through 19C, FIGS. 21A through 21C, FIGS. 23 Athrough 23C to FIGS. 26A and 26B, only brief description thereof will begiven herein.

FIG. 27 is an example of the displayed image when documents as searchresults are browsed one by one. When search operation (key word searchor associative search) is effected, the title list of search results,etc. are displayed on the search results display area P1 of theretrieval assisting interface 322. By clicking an interesting titlepart, a user can display and read the contents of the designateddocument.

The operation of the retrieval assisting routine 3441 then is asfollows. At the time when mouse is pushed, the process 3441MP-P1-4 (FIG.23B) is performed, to set the mode variable MM of the retrievalassisting routine 3441 at the mode (=12) during the designation ofdisplay document, and when mouse is released, the process 3441MR-P1-2(FIG. 25B) is executed to open document browsing means 322R, if not yetopened, to receive the contents of the corresponding document frominformation provider side retrieval assisting program 143 and displaythe contents on the document browsing means 322R.

At the process 3441MR-P1-2, herein, the document identification numberdisplayed on the retrieval browsing means 322R is substituted withvariable MD showing the identification number of the document ondisplay, and the background color of the title of the document ondisplay is displayed with a color different from the surrounding colorsto make the title distinctive at the title imaging data preparationroutine 34437 (FIGS. 19A through 19C) of the routine for generatingdisplay data of the search result 3443. In the present FIG. 27, thetitle part is underlined for such distinction.

If another title is clicked, the contents of the corresponding documentare newly displayed on the same document browsing means 322R. Byrepeating the operation, a user can read each document with desirablecontents from the search results. If printing button RB1 is pushed,additionally, the contents thereof can be printed out on printing means36 (FIG. 1).

FIGS. 28A through 28C are views depicting the changes of an interfaceimage during the marking operation of titles through topic wordselection. FIG. 28A depicts the selection state by clickingsequentially<topic word-a2> and <topic word-a5> as interesting topicwords with left mouse, while pushing shift key at the state after thekey word search (FIG. 6). The selected topic words after modificationwith distinctive background color or with distinctive font are shown,but in the present figure, such modification is shown with asterisksymbol ⋆ attached to the top of the selected topic words.

When topic words are clicked with left mouse while pushing shift key,operation 3441MP-P2-1 (FIG. 23C) is conducted at the retrieval assistingroutine 3441, to toggle the selection/non-selection of a topic word atthe pushed position (no influence on the selection/non-selection ofother topic words), and accordingly, herein, sequentially clicked topicwords are changed to selection state. (Operation 3441MP-P2-2 is effectedwith the same operation of sequential clicking with left mouse with nopushing of shift key, and in this case, the topic word firstly atselection state turns unselect if a second clicking is executed.Therefore, clicking is necessarily accompanied with pushing of shiftkey, if desiring that a plurality of topic words be put at selectionstate by each clicking.) It is needless to say that the setting forclicking under pushing of shift key and for clicking without any shiftkey pushing is a simple provision, and therefore, the reverse settingmay also be possible. The same is true with right and left mouseoperation. A method for collectively putting a plurality of topic wordsat selection state is described hereinafter in the description of FIG.29A and 29B hereinafter.

FIG. 28B depicts the change of the search results display area P1 whenmark title button (B31) is pushed from the state FIG. 28A. When the marktitle button is pushed, the process 3441MR-B31 (FIGS. 26A) is executedto make distinctive each document in the search results containing theselected topic words. In the present example, marks such as check markare attached to the left ends of the titles for distinction. If aplurality of topic words are selected, furthermore, marks with abroadness in proportion to the number of the types of the topic wordscontained in documents are attached to the documents.

It is indicated that <topic word-a2> currently selected from the data ofthe topic word/document corresponding table storage area 34427 (FIG. 16)is contained in temporary document numbers 1, 3, 5, - - - , and that<topic word-a5> currently selected is included in temporary documentnumbers 5, 7, 9, - - - . Based on these, the mark intensity column ofthe topic word storage area 34425 (FIG. 14) is defined as 1 in thetemporary document numbers 1 and 3 while the column is defined as 2 inthe temporary document number 5.

Because the update flag of search results imaging Fr is on, searchresults imaging data is updated at the retrieval assisting routine 3441(FIG. 5). At the mark imaging data preparation routine 34434 (FIG. 19B)of routine for generating display data of the search result 3443, thedata for imaging a mark with a broadness, depending on the markintensity, is added to the search results display area imaging data34422P1 (FIG. 7). At the imaging operation 34414 (FIG. 5) of theretrieval assisting interface image, therefore, a mark with a broadness,depending on the mark intensity, is displayed on the side of the titleof each document. The present FIG. 28B depicts the imaged state then.The documents with temporary document numbers 1 and 3 are attached witha relatively thin check mark (mark intensity 1) containing only <topicword-a2> and the document with temporary document number 5 is attachedwith a broad check mark (mark intensity 2) containing both <topicword-a2> and <topic word-a5>.

FIG. 28C depicts the state of the search results display area P1 whensort button (B32) is further clicked from the state 28B. The sort button(B32) rearranges the documents of search results in the decreasing orderof mark intensity attached to the search results. Conveniently, a usercan thereby browse documents more intensely marked in sequence. In thecase of the example, <title-a5> and <title-a12> are at the top becauseof the mark intensity of 2. Then, <title-a1>, <title-a3> and the likefollow due to the mark intensity of 1. If the mark intensities areequal, the original order is stored. For the operation of the retrievalassisting routine 3441 at that time, see the description of the sortbutton B32 in FIGS. 26A.

FIGS. 29A and 29B are views depicting examples of the change of theinterface image when topic words are in the course of another selectingoperation. As described above, a selection method of a plurality oftopic words is illustrated, comprising designating topic words, one byone, with left mouse under pushing of shift key. For the presentretrieval assisting method, a method utilizing a topic word selectionregion is proposed as a method for collectively selecting a plurality oftopic words at relatively close positions. Rectangle P2R1 shown in thetopic word display area P2 in FIG. 29A is an example of the topic wordselection region. The topic word selection region can be designated, bypushing a mouse button at a base point with no topic word display andthen releasing at any area. During the course of pushing and movingmouse, furthermore, a rectangle with diagonal angles lying on the startpoint and end point is displayed, following the move of the mouse. (Seethe descriptions of FIG. 23C and FIG. 24.) The figure depicts the statewherein mouse is pushed on the left top of the rectangle P2R1 to movethe mouse under pushing to the right bottom point of the rectangle. Whenmouse is released at that state, all the topic words with overlap withthe topic word selection region are selected, so that the state as shownin the FIG. 29B is brought about (see the process 3441MR-P2-2 of FIG.25C). In this case, more specifically, the <topic word-a3 > and <topicword-a5> are selected because these two have overlap with the topic wordselection region P2R1 (as shown with symbol ⋆). The selection numberdisplay area L24 lies on the upper part of the topic word display area,and 2 as the current selection number is placed on the part L24. Whilewatching the rectangle region, a user can release mouse at a positioncovering a topic word group desirable to be selected, as just aspossible.

Since all the topic words with no overlap with the selection region areset to non selection, at the state 29B, <topic word-a2> falls intonon-selection state even if the <topic word-a2> for example is atselection state, at the state FIG. 29A. When selection desirable topicwords are in dividend forms of some groups, an operation to preset atopic word selection region under pushing of shift key is satisfactorilyrepeated. In this case, the process 3441MR-P2-21 (FIG. 25C) does notinfluence the unselect area, so the selection region can sequentially beincreased.

FIGS. 30A and 30B are views depicting examples of the change of theinterface image when topic words are moved for graphic display thereof.In the example of the figure, the move may specifically be required, butmany topic words once displayed may sometimes cause a display jam suchthat they overlap and are accordingly hardly visible. In such case,sometimes, the selected topic words are desirably moved to more readilyvisible positions. In that case, any one of the selected topic words ispushed with left mouse under move while being pushed, and then, theselected topic words are collectively moved in parallel, following themouse move. (Links also move following the move.) This is because whenmouse is pushed on a topic word at selection state just immediatelythereafter, the topic word move mode (MM=21) is set at on. Since theupdate flag of topic word imaging Fc is generally on at the process3441-MD2 (FIG. 24) during the following move of mouse under pushing, theroutine for generating display data of topic word graph 3444 (FIGS. 21Athrough 21C) functions without exception, so that the positions of thetopic words shift by the move of mouse, following the move. When mouseis released, a new display position of each moved topic word is definedat the position of the topic word when mouse is released.

When a topic word selected is pushed with left mouse while pushing shiftkey in the same circumstance as in FIG. 30A, the pushed topic word justfalls into non-selection state, so no move occurs even if mouse isoperated. If a word not selected, such as <topic word-a2> is pushed withleft mouse while pushing shift key with left mouse, the <topic word-a2>is added to selection state, while other selected words remain at theselected state, so three <topic word-a2, 3, 5> are collectively movedunder pushing of mouse. Additionally when <topic word-a2> isalternatively pushed with left mouse without pushing of any shift key,only <topic word-a2> is at selection state while other words are all atnon selection state, and therefore, only <topic word-a2> is moved whenmouse is pushed.

FIG. 31A through 31C are views depicting examples of the change of theinterface image during the operation by utilizing the displayed topicwords as search words. Because words better reflecting thecharacteristics of search results emerge in the topic words, the demandto utilize the words as key words may frequently occur. For such case,the following method is proposed by the present retrieval assistingmethod. FIG. 31A depicts a view of the currently selected states of<topic word-a3> and <topic word-a5> on the topic word graphs on thetopic word display area P2. When either one of them is clicked (with nopushing of shift key) with right mouse, the topic words at selectedstate (<topic word-a3> and <topic word-a5> in this case) arecollectively added to the query input window (E1). This is through theprocess 3441MR-P2-33 (FIG. 25C).

When <topic word-a3> is continuously clicked with right mouse in asimilar fashion by pushing shift key at this time, all words identicalas any one of the topic words at selected state are deleted from thequery window. Hence, the original state is also recovered in this case.(However, the same one as <topic word-a3> or <topic word-a5> if presentin the initial key words is deleted simultaneously, and therefore, insuch case, the restoration of the original state is not satisfactorilydemonstrated.) This is due to the process 3441MR-P2-31 of FIG. 25C.

When topic words not at selection state, for example <topic word-a2>,are then clicked with right mouse, only the clicked words are added assearch words in this case (Process 3441MR-P2-34 of FIG. 25C). Bycarrying out the same operations while pushing shift key, the same wordsas <topic word-a2> are deleted from search words (Process 3441MR-P2-32of FIG. 25C).

FIGS. 32A through 32D are views depicting examples of the change of theinterface image when the propagate function of selection for topic wordgraphic display is utilized. At the state of 32A, only <topic word-a4>is selected. When Propagate button (B21) is pushed at such state, allthe topic words linked through one path at most from the selected <topicword-a4> are fallen into selection state. Because only <topic word-a2>can satisfy the condition in this case, <topic word-a2> is changed toselection state, which then falls into the state as shown in 32B. Whenpropagation is continued, the topic word falls into state 32C and theninto state 32D after further propagation.

FIGS. 33A through 33C are views depicting examples of the change of theinterface image when the marking operation of topic words by selectingretrieved documents is effected. FIG. 33A depicts that, by sequentiallyclicking the selection windows of <title-a2> and <title-a4> asinteresting documents from the state after retrieval (the state of FIG.6) with mouse, these documents are put at selection state. The selectionwindows of the selected documents change into distinctive colors. In thepresent figure, the change is shown by painting the selection windows asblack. In the column L14 showing the number of selected documents, thenumber 2 of currently selected documents is displayed.

When the selection windows are clicked with mouse and just when themouse is released, the operation 3441MR-P1-1 (FIG. 25B) is conducted, totoggle the selection/non selection of a document at a clicked position.So as to collectively put a plurality of documents continuouslypositioned, at selection state, mouse is pushed at the selection windowof an either end, then dragged to the other end and released there.(Under provision that the document at the start position is originallynot selected.) In this case, documents between both the ends are allchanged to selection state at the process 3441MR-P1-1 (FIG. 25B).

FIG. 33B depicts the state of the topic word display area P2 when marktopic word button (B41) is pushed from the state FIG. 33A. When the marktopic word button is pushed, the process 3441MR-B41 (FIGS. 26A and 26B)is effected, to make distinctive topic words contained in the selecteddocuments. In the present example, the marked topic words are emphasizedby setting the frame line of the topic words to be colored with adistinctive color.

Apparently, document <title-a2> currently selected among the data of thedocument/topic word corresponding table storage area 34428 (FIG. 17)contains temporary topic word numbers 1, 3, 6, - - - , while document<title-a4> contains temporary word numbers 3, 8, 12, - - - . Based onthem, the mark intensity column for the topic word 1 in the searchresults storage area 34424 a (FIG. 13A) is defined as 1 and the columnfor the topic word 3 is defined as 2.

Because the update flag of topic word imaging Fc is on when the marktopic word button is pushed, the topic word imaging data is updated atthe retrieval assisting routine 3441 (FIG. 5). At the topic word nodeimaging data preparation routine 34447 (FIG. 21C) of the topic wordgraph mapping data preparation routine, an imaging data to color theframe of the marked topic word in an emphasizing color is added to thetopic word display area imaging data 34422P2 (FIG. 8). At the imagingoperation 34414 of the retrieval assisting interface image (FIG. 5), theframe line of the marked topic word is imaged with an accent color. Thepresent FIG. 33B depicts the imaging state then, wherein the frame linesof the temporary topic word numbers 1 and 3 are emphasized.

FIG. 33C depicts the state of the topic word display area P2 whenselection button (B42) is further clicked from the state FIG. 33B.Because the selection button (B42) works to put collectively the markedtopic words at selection state, the marked <topic word-a1> and <topicword-a3> are attached with an asterisk symbol representing that they areat selection state.

FIG. 34 is an example of the interface image when associative search isexecuted by using a selected document as a key. When expand button (B11)is clicked at the state shown in FIG. 33A, namely the selection state ofdocuments <title-a2> and <title-a4>, the query to commit associativesearch by using the selected documents as keys is sent to an informationprovider side, so that the results of associative search and theinformation about the topic words are sent back and displayed on searchresults display area P1 and topic word display area P2. For associativesearch, the score indicating the extent how much the search results meetthe query is measured on the basis of the similarity to the keydocuments, and therefore, a normalized value of the similarity is shownin the score display column. Herein, the highest similarity isnormalized as 100. Additionally, the search results are sorted in thedecreasing order of such score. The graphic display of topic word is thesame as the case of key word search. All the operations as described inFIGS. 27 to FIGS. 33A through 33C can be performed for the presentfigure.

FIG. 35 is an example of the interface image after pruning for leavingonly selected documents and deleting others. When prune button (B12) isclicked from the state of FIG. 33A, namely the selection state ofdocuments <title-a2> and <title-a4>, only the selected documents aredefined as search results, and topic word information is extracted onlyfrom the selected documents. The present figure depicts the state,wherein only <title-a2> and <title-a4> are left on the search resultsdisplay area while the results of topic word extraction from these twodocuments are displayed on the topic word display area P2, andaccordingly, a different graph from the topic word graph in FIG. 33A isshown.

FIG. 36 is an example of the display image when the text input means322T is opened for carrying out associative search by text input. Thetext input means 322T is for inputting any fragment of the text andretrieving documents similar to the fragment. The text input means iscomposed of text input part TE1, associative search button TB1, clearbutton TB2, and quit button TB3. From keyboard and the like, characterrows are directly inputted into the text input part TE1, or a part orthe whole of other documents are inputted, through cut and pasteoperation on the display means, into the part TE1. When associativesearch button TB1 is clicked after termination of text input, a query tocarry out associative search by using the input text as a key is sent toan information provider, so that search results and topic wordinformation are sent back. What will be described below is the same withthe case when another retrieval is conducted or when expand button ispushed.

Specifically with reference to the interface image when retrieval isexecuted, then, a very convenient retrieval can be conducted inaccordance with the present invention. The example described hereinafteris an example for a user to search patents relevant to “documentretrieval interface ()”. It is under provision that the user is at astate with some degree of understanding about document retrievalinterface but without any established retrieval principle as to on whichcharacteristics of document retrieval interface attention should befocused.

FIG. 37 is an interface image practically adopted in the presentexample, depicting such a state that “Patent G 06F'96 (18,660 cases)” isselected as a usable database with no input for retrieval. As apparentlyshown in a comparative manner with interface images of FIGS. 3 and 6 andthe like, the image is substantially the same as the images, except theEnglish representation as well as the three buttons on the left side ofthe top. Correspondence is illustrated as follows. More specifically,B01: key word search button-Key words, B02: associative searchbutton-Association, B03: text input button-Text Input, B04: quitbutton-Quit, B11: expand button- Expand, B12: prune button-Prune, B13:unselect (left) button-UnSelect, B21:

propagate button-Propagate, B23: unselect (right) button-UnSelect, B31:mark title button-MarkTitle, B32: sort button-Gather, B33: clear (left)button-Clear, B41: mark topic word button-Mark□Topics, B42: selectionbutton-Select, B43: clear (right) button-Clear.

FIG. 38 depicts the interface image at a state of “document retrievalinterface ()” inputted as it is as a key word input, indicating that theinput character row appears as it is on the key word input window. FIG.39 depicts such a status that the input character row “documentretrieval interface ()” is decomposed into three key words of document(), retrieval () and interface () for carrying out retrieval as theconsequence of pushing the key word search button “Key words”, torecover a total of 1280 patents as search results, which are then listedup in the decreasing order of relevance score to be graphicallydisplayed in the decreasing order of significance within a designatedtotal range of 20. Herein, the key word selection and graphic displayare executed according to the methods disclosed in the United Statespatent application Ser. No. 08/888,017 previously mentioned, and thedescription thereof is omitted. FIG. 40 depicts how a user can clickmouse to select the nodes of topic words for the purpose of selectingentitled documents containing all of the individual key words, namelykey word (), presence (), compound word () and thesaurus (), whileattention being focused on these key words and the key word graph onFIG. 39 is watched. The selected topic words are expressed in voidcharacters on black background. FIG. 41 depicts the results of markingby pushing mark title button MarkVTitle at that state. In the figure,broader marks are put to documents with more designated key words,although the marks are not so apparently shown. FIG. 42 depicts theresults of sorting the documents by pushing the sort button Gather. Inthe figure, documents with broader marks are listed on higher ranks.FIG. 43 depicts the state of topic word nodes by pushing unselect buttonClear (matching B23). FIG. 44 depicts the selection state of fourdocuments more broadly marked by a user, by sequentially pushing theselection windows thereof, while the user focuses attention on thedocuments. FIG. 45 depicts examples where the frames enclosing the topicwords appearing in these documents are displayed broadly by a user bypushing the mark topic word button Mark□Topics. FIG. 46 depicts thattopic words marked as topics and then selected are displayed in voidcharacters when a user pushes the selection button Select. By pushingthe selected topic words with the left button of mouse while pushingshift key at that state, the selection is released to put the topicwords at non selection state. FIG. 47 depicts the state of one of thetopic words clicked with mouse when they are at the selection state, soas to register all the topic words at selection state as shown in FIG.46 as key words. At the state, new key words are displayed on thekeyword window. FIG. 48 is a view depicting the search resultscorresponding to the new key words. FIG. 49 depicts the state of onlythe upper ranked 12 documents selected by mouse clicking. FIG. 50depicts the results of pushing the prune button Prune to define only theselected 12 documents as search subjects. FIG. 51 depicts the state oftwo documents of which titles are clicked with mouse for theirselection, so as to carry out associative search. FIG. 52 depicts theresults of carrying out associative search by pushing the search keyAssociation at that state. FIGS. 53, 54 and 55 are views depicting oneexample of the change of the interface image wherein a function topropagate the selection of topic words is utilized by using topicword/pen stroke as keys, while attention is focused on the graphicdisplay of the topic words recovered as the results of the associativesearch. FIG. 53 depicts the state of only topic word/pen stroke inselection. FIG. 54 depicts the selected state of a topic word/key word,possibly linked through one path at most from the selected topicword/pen stroke, by pushing the propagate (right) button Propagate atthe state. FIG. 55 depicts the selected state of topic word/document,the whole text and thesaurus possibly linked through one path at mostfrom the topic word/key word, as the consequence of continuous pushingof the propagate (right) button Propagate for propagation.

As shown in the example, various retrieval can be developed from theinput character row “document retrieval interface ()”.

Not specifically shown as examples, herein, routine procedures for aseries of retrieval operations may be set to autonomous operation oncethe initial operation of the routine procedures is designated, so thatthe resulting retrieval system may be more convenient for users.

As described in the examples of specific embodiments insofar, retrievalcan be effected more conveniently as described below, in accordance withthe embodiments of the present invention.

(1) Because information about the topic relevance degree between wordgroups characteristically appearing in a retrieved document group isarranged and displayed together with a list of titles as primaryinformation from search results, users can carry out retrieval operationwhile watching the overview of search results together with specificinformation such as the titles. Additionally, the displayed topic wordscan be utilized as search words; some of the displayed topic words canbe selected by simple mouse operation, to emphasize the titlescontaining them to concentrate the emphasized titles on the top of alist; by selecting some titles, alternatively, topic words contained inthe titles can be emphasized at a high speed, so that the search queriescan be improved or retrieval from another standpoint can be attempted,in a simple manner.

(2) The retrieval assisting interface includes a button for search viakey word and a button for associative search based on documentsimilarity, and information indicating the address of a document isinputted from the query inputted column for associative search by usinga designated document as a key when an associative search button ispushed. Because an interesting document can be selected while watchingthe title display area of search results and because a button forassociative search by means of a selected document as a key is present,a user can retrieve documents with deep relevance to an interestingdocument a user has found or his (her) own document or an interestingdocument encountered under the way of retrieval operation, in a simplefashion.

(3) When a button for text input is pushed, a text input means with abutton for associative search by means of a text input window and aninput text thereon as keys is displayed on an image, so a user can inputa part of an interesting document, for example phrase, sentence, andparagraph and the like, from keyboard or through cut and pasteoperation. Hence, the user can readily retrieve documents with somerelation.

In accordance with the present invention, results more satisfying thesearch query can readily be yielded, while utilizing search results.

What is claimed is:
 1. A document retrieval assisting method having akey word search function and an associative search function, whereindisplaying search results comprises displaying a title list of a set ofretrieved documents and displaying an overview of the search results inthe form of topic word information extracted from the set of retrieveddocuments, both displays being arranged adjacently, wherein eachdocument and each topic word in the search results is respectivelystored in a data structure in which a selection/non selection mode and adegree of emphasis are set, wherein cross-reference data specifyingwhich topic word is contained in each individual document of the searchresults, together with data specifying which document of the searchresults contains each individual topic word, is stored, and wherein themethod comprises: a step of adding or deleting a word displayed as atopic word to or from the search words; a step of designatingselection/non selection state of each word displayed as a topic word; astep of emphasizing each document containing one or more selected topicwords with an intensity, depending on how many selected topic words arecontained; a step of rearranging and displaying the search results indecreasing order of intensity for emphasis; a step of designating theselection/non selection state of each document from the search results;a step of emphasizing topic words contained in the selected documents; astep of carrying out associative search by using one or more selecteddocuments as a search key; and a prune step of leaving only selecteddocuments and gathering information about topic words only from theselected documents.
 2. A document retrieval service for sending searchresults, information about topic words, and information relevant to arelation between the search results and the topic words, wherein aninformation provider side computer is equipped with a text data basefunctioning as a search subject, a retrieval assisting execution programcomprising a program for arranging and displaying a display area of thesearch results in a list of a set of retrieved documents includinginformation in a form convenient for a user to identify the retrieveddocuments, an area for displaying topic words reflecting the searchresults in a list style or for displaying topic words in a graph styleindicating a degree of relevance between the topic words extracted fromthe set of retrieved documents, and a communication program, wherein inresponse to a search query received from a user via the retrievalassisting execution program, a retrieval operation for the query isperformed with extraction of topic words from the search results andcalculation of the degree of relevance between the topic words andsending to the retrieval assisting execution program working on theuser-side computer all needed data concerning the search results, topicwords and cross-reference data between retrieved documents andcorresponding topic-words, wherein said retrieval operation comprises: astep of adding or deleting a word displayed as a topic word to or fromsearch words; a step of designating a selection/non selection state ofeach word displayed as a topic word; a step of emphasizing each documentcontaining one or more selected topic words with an intensity, dependingon how many selected topic words are contained; a step of rearrangingand displaying the search results in decreasing order of intensity foremphasis; a step of designating a selection/nonselection state of eachdocument from the search results; a step of emphasizing topic wordscontained in the selected documents; a step of carrying out anassociative search by using one or more selected documents as a searchkey; and a prune step of leaving only selected documents and gatheringinformation about topic words only from the selected documents.
 3. Adocument retrieval service or document retrieval assisting serviceaccording to claim 2, wherein the retrieval assisting execution programis preliminarily delivered to the user, so that the user might start theprogram when desired.
 4. A document retrieval service or a documentretrieval assisting service according to claim 2, wherein as to the stepof adding or deleting an individual word displayed as a topic word to orfrom search words, an operation to add only designated topic words tosearch words, an operation to delete some search words being the same asdesignated topic words from the search words, and an operation tocollectively add selected topic words to the search words, and anoperation to delete all search words being the same as any one of theselected topic words, are effected with mouse operation.
 5. A documentretrieval service or a document retrieval assisting service according toclaim 2, wherein as to the step of designating the selection/nonselection state of an individual word displayed as a topic word, anoperation to display the background color of a selected topic word orthe font thereof as distinctive to make the selected topic word readilyidentifiable and put only a designated topic word at selection statewhile putting others at non selection state, an operation to toggle theselection/non selection of only the designated word, an operation tocollectively select words with overlap with a designated rectangleregion while putting others at non selection state, an operation tocollectively move a selected word group, and an operation to add toselection state all topic words which can be reached through onerelevance-link between topic words from any of already selected words,are carried out by mouse operation or button operation.
 6. A documentretrieval service or document retrieval assisting service according toclaim 2, comprising as to the step of designating the selection/nonselection state of an individual word from search results, displaying asmall window on the side of the title of an individual document on asearch results display area and using a distinctive color for adocument, if selected, to make the selected document readilyidentifiable and toggle the selection/non selection of the correspondingdocument if a designated operation such as mouse clicking on the windowpart is effected (the color thus changes), and collectively selecting orun-selecting a plurality of documents by designating such documents bydrag operation.
 7. A document retrieval assisting service having aninformation provider side computer having a text data base functioningas a search subject, a retrieval assisting execution program comprisinga program for arranging and displaying a display area of the searchresults in a list of a set of retrieved documents including informationconvenient for a user to identify the retrieved documents, an area fordisplaying topic words reflecting the search results in a list style orfor displaying topic words in a graph style reflecting a degree ofrelevance between the topic words extracted from the set of retrieveddocuments, wherein said areas are displayed close to each other, and acommunication program, wherein the service comprises sending theretrieval assisting execution program to a user side computer on a queryfrom a user and making the program operable on the user side computer,wherein said retrieval operation comprises: a step of adding or deletinga word displayed as a topic word to or from search words; a step ofdesignating a selection/non selection state of each word displayed as atopic word; a step of emphasizing each document containing one or moreselected topic words with an intensity depending on how many selectedtopic words are contained; a step of rearranging and displaying thesearch results in decreasing order of intensity for emphasis; a step ofdesignating a selection/nonselection state of each document from thesearch results; a step of emphasizing topic words contained in theselected documents; a step of carrying out an associative search byusing one or more selected documents as a search key; and a prune stepof leaving only selected documents and gathering information about topicwords only from the selected documents.
 8. A document retrieval serviceor document retrieval assisting service according to claim 7, comprisingsending the retrieval assisting execution program to a user sidecomputer on a query from a user, to preliminarily deliver the retrievalassisting execution program to a user with a desire to use the servicebut with no start of its operation, so that the user might start theprogram if desired.
 9. A document retrieval service or a documentretrieval assisting service according to claim 7, wherein as to the stepof adding or deleting an individual word displayed as a topic word to orfrom search words, an operation to add only designated topic words tothe search words, an operation to delete some search words being thesame as the designated topic words from the search words, an operationto collectively add selected topic words to the search words, and anoperation to delete all search words being the same as any one of theselected topic words, are effected with mouse operation.
 10. A documentretrieval service or a document retrieval assisting service according toclaim 7, wherein as to the step of designating the selection/nonselection state of an individual word displayed as a topic word, anoperation to display the background color of a selected topic word orthe font thereof as distinctive to make the selected topic word readilyidentifiable and put only a designated topic word at selection statewhile putting others at non selection state, an operation to toggle theselection/non selection of only the designated word, an operation tocollectively select words with overlap with a designated rectangleregion while putting others at non selection state, an operation tocollectively move a selected word group, and an operation to add toselected state all topic words which can be browsed through one linkwith relevance between topic words from any of already selected words,are carried out by mouse operation or button operation.
 11. A documentretrieval service or document retrieval assisting service according toclaim 7, comprising as to the step of designating the selection/nonselection state of an individual word from search results, displaying asmall window on the side of the title of an individual document on ansearch results display area and using a distinctive color for adocument, if selected, to make the selected document readilyidentifiable and toggle the selection/non selection of the correspondingdocument if a designated operation such as mouse clicking on the windowpart is executed (the color thus changes), and collectively selecting ornever selecting a plurality of documents by designating such documentsby drag operation.
 12. A document retrieval system having an informationprovider side computer having a text data base functioning as a searchsubject, a retrieval assisting execution program comprising a programfor arranging and displaying a display area of search results in a listof a set of retrieved documents including information convenient for auser to identify the retrieved documents, and an area for displayingtopic words reflecting the search results in a list or for displayingtopic words in a graph style reflecting a degree of relevance betweenthe topic words extracted from the set of retrieved documents, saidareas being displayed at close positions to each other, and acommunication program, wherein a user side computer has a communicationprogram capable of communication through a network with the informationprovider side computer, wherein said retrieval operation comprises: astep of adding or deleting a word displayed as a topic word to or fromsearch words; a step of designating a selection/non selection state ofeach word displayed as a topic word; a step of emphasizing each documentcontaining one or more selected topic words with an intensity, dependingon how many selected topic words are contained; a step of rearrangingand displaying the search results in decreasing order of intensity foremphasis; a step of designating a selection/nonselection state of eachdocument from the search results; a step of emphasizing topic wordscontained in the selected documents; a step of carrying out anassociative search by using one or more selected documents as a searchkey; and a prune step of leaving only selected documents and gatheringinformation about topic words only from the selected documents.
 13. Adocument retrieval system according to claim 2, wherein the user sidecomputer is also equipped with the provider side functions and workstand-alone.